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Centre for Scandinavian Studies

Universiteto g. 5, LT-01513 Vilnius. Tel. (8 5) 268 7235

How to find us

Head of the centre – Assoc. Prof. Dr Ieva Steponavičiūtė-Aleksiejūnienė 

Administrator – Liana Šimanskienė

Researchers in the centre

 

The Centre for Scandinavian Studies was established in the same year Lithuania restored its statehood (1990), marking a new era in Lithuanian humanities. From its inception, the Centre has functioned as a dynamic, open institution, collaborating with leading universities in Scandinavia and beyond. It has served as a bridge between Lithuanian and Scandinavian societies and cultures, bringing fresh ideas and new practices to the university, distinct from those typical during the Soviet era.

The Centre for Scandinavian Studies remains one of the university’s most active international units. It is now part of the Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Baltic, alongside departments of Russian, Polish, Baltic, and German Studies. It offers the undergraduate program Scandinavian Studies, with Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish tracks. It also offers Scandinavian Studies as a minor, in all four tracks, open to students from any discipline. The program places a strong focus on the study of Nordic society and culture and, thanks to the presence of professional translators on staff, gives special attention to translation theory and practice (both literary and specialized).

The Centre has pioneered initiatives like the MA program in Languages and Cultures of the Northern and Baltic Sea Region, run in co-operation with four other departments of the Institute, and operating in English (except for language-specific modules). The program places a stronger emphasis on the regional context, and includes thematic modules on migration narratives, cross-border languages and cultures, gender and education, and the post-anthropocentric paradigm.

Researchers at the Centre actively participate in the faculty research theme "Society, Language, and Culture in Northern and Central Europe". Earlier, it had coordinated the Norwegian-Lithuanian dictionary project in collaboration with Vilnius and Oslo Universities, see also In memoriam Aurelija Mickūnaitė-Griškevičienė. Under the State Program for Lithuanian Research and Dissemination (2016–2024), the Centre  was involved in conducting the project "A Lithuanian Émigré in Iceland: The Creative Legacy of Teodoras Bieliackinas (1907–1947)."

The Centre regularly organizes academic seminars, where both resident and visiting scholars present research. Although their fields vary—language contact, lexicography, literary studies, film studies, intellectual history, and more—they share a deep knowledge of the region's languages, cultures, historical, and social processes. Interdisciplinary academic cooperation among Scandinavian scholars is a long-standing international tradition.

The Centre’s commitment to active international collaboration is reflected in its publication of the Scandinavistica Vilnensis series, featuring research collections with contributions from both local and international scholars. The Centre also hosts international symposia and conferences in Scandinavian studies, including the 2021 International Association for Scandinavian Studies conference on Memory Culture in Scandinavian Studies.

The Centre’s existence represents an important political interest for the institute, faculty, and university as a whole. Its activities also attract considerable interest from Scandinavian governmental, academic, and cultural institutions, as well as from businesses in Lithuania engaged in joint activities with the Nordic countries.

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